The other, Corrine Payne, is the mother of the local constable with whom Havers works in Wiltshire. She’s convinced that Luxford is out to ruin her, experiences essentially no grief when Charlotte dies, and is just thoroughly unpleasant throughout. The first, Eve Bowen, views all events through the veil of what they might mean to her political career. Among the cast are two particularly infuriating women, though, whom I wanted to take a moment to describe. It’s an intricate plot, with many enjoyable twists and turns, memorable characters, and a satisfying conclusion. Inspector Lynley and Sergeant Havers are called in to investigate, and then Luxford’s son, Leo, is taken. Her suspicion of Luxford-he’s the only other person who knows the truth about the child’s parentage, after all-and obstinate refusal to even consider that he might be innocent blind her to the real peril her daughter, Charlotte, is in, and the delay ultimately costs Charlotte her life. Luxford respected her wishes, but when he receives an anonymous letter instructing him to acknowledge his firstborn on the front page of his newspaper or she’ll be killed, his first instinct is to comply.Įve, now a Member of Parliament and an Undersecretary of the Home Office, won’t have it, however.

There was no love between them, and when Eve found out she was pregnant, she informed Luxford that she didn’t want him to have anything to do with the child. But Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Sergeant Barbara Havers soon learn that nothing in this investigation is what it appears to be, and that in betrayal and deception, lies death.Įleven years ago, at a Tory conference, a young political hopeful named Eve Bowen enjoyed a week-long fling with Dennis Luxford, a tabloid journalist with Labour Party views. When a young girl disappears from the streets of London without a trace, her mother, a well-respected MP, is convinced she knows the identity of the kidnapper-the child’s father.

Lynley in the presence of the enemy